Above: Fayville Hall will reopen with a reception for painter Nan Hass Feldman’s exhibit tomorrow. (images L-R by Beth Melo and from SHAC website)
After a long closure, the Southborough History and Arts Center is scheduled to reopen to the public tomorrow, Saturday, September 19th.
The venue is inviting the public to an Opening Reception for its new art exhibit from 3:00 – 7:00 pm in the Long Gallery.
The event will feature the art of painter Nan Hass Feldman. Feldman’s works will be on display through October 25th. A closing reception, featuring a poetry reading by Alan Feldmen, will take place on Sunday, October 18th from 3:00 – 5:00 pm.
SHAC’s event page for the exhibit “Calling Through the Darkness: Landscapes Real and Imagined” promotes of the artist:
Nan Hass Feldman has been painting over fifty years. In that time she has had fifty-nine solo exhibitions, and has been included in over sixty group shows and twenty-nine museum exhibitions. She has work in private collections in six countries, in corporate collections such as Fidelity Investments, Meditech, and Veryfine Products, and in eighteen hospital collections such as Children’s Hospital, Boston, the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, and Cape Cod Hospital, in Hyannis, Massachusetts. Her awards includetwo Frances A. Kinnicut Foreign Traveling Fellowships from the Worcester Art Museum, and the Basil H. Alkazzii Award, a national award for painting. For many years she has taught in the Boston area, including at the Worcester Art Museum, the DeCordova Museum, Danforth Art at Framingham State University, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. From 1999 through 2018 she led painting retreats in France, Greece, Italy, and Mexico, and from 2011 through 2019 ran the Artist’s Loft on the Oceania cruise line on Pacific, Baltic, Mediterranean, Caribbean, and South American voyages. Since 2020, when she was diagnosed with a motor neuron illness, multiple system atrophy, cerebellar type, her style has loosened because she has less control. Most of these paintings represent that new style.
You can see examples of her works on the website here.
Temporary Closure and Reopening
The center, run by the Southborough Historical Society had been closed since mid-May after its temporary Certificate of Occupancy expired earlier this spring and was issued an order to Cease and Desist holding events.
The permit lapsed after the Planning Board found that the applicant wasn’t meeting requirements for the parking lot under conditions of its Major Site Plan Approval.
SHS President Michael Weishan claimed the requirements were excessive, and not in keeping with the center’s zoning relief allowed as an educational non-profit under the “Dover Amendment”. He also claimed that once Planning waived the bond requirement for a temporary Certificate of Occupancy, they gave up their standing to weigh in on Occupancy Permits.
SHS appealed the decision by the Building Commissioner with the BCAB (Building Code Appeals Board). In a split decision, the BCAB determined that the applicant is eligible for a permanent Occupancy Permit — but only after the Building Commissioner approves that the facility has completed its requirements for handicapped parking.
The designated space for handicapped parking was paved this week. As of this morning that space was not yet marked. I reached out to Weishan about the status. He informed me that it will be marked tomorrow, “and we have the OK from the inspector”.
SHS is still in the process of appealing the Building Commissioner’s prior decisions with the Zoning Board of Appeals. The August and September hearings were delayed at the request of the applicant. The board continued that to their October 21st meeting.
Other Parking Issues
Weishan and the Town still also need to iron out the designation shared parking for users of Fayville Park across the way. The requirement was included in the deed when the Town sold the property — but the number of spaces and the hours were limited. (In the past, Weishan has also publicly said that he planned to lobby the Select Board to eliminate or reduce the requirement.)
A sign put up by SHS next to the parking lot warns the public:
Friends: This is private property.
Non-SHAC members are limited to available spaces adjacent to Central St. BETWEEN 9-5 DAILY when not required for Center events.
If you’re not sure, don’t park here. This lot is subject to random closure, and violators WILL be towed.
Use at your own risk.
In his message to me today, he noted his concern that issues of “illegal” parking will be worsened if Recreation’s plans go through to add a splash pad and dog park next to the playground in the park. He wrote:
The real question now will be: how do we prevent all the park users from illegally parking in our lot, and how will the planned additions of a splash pad and dog park to an already overused recreational area further complicate resident parking? That rec expansion should go next to the Flagg school, where there is ample space, and ample parking,
The Recreation Commission has acknowledged the parking restraints in the area. Working through that is one of their task before they bring the project to voters. At this week’s Select Board meeting, the board updated that Recreation is also seeking state grant funding for the Fayville Park project. (Which appears to be at least part of the reason the project won’t be on the Warrant for this fall’s Special Town Meeting.)
